Shawn Collins' Blog

Affiliate marketing and other stuff from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.

Archives for May 2008

Affiliate Program Down Time

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One of the recurring concerns I see from affiliates (and have myself) is that tracking isn’t working properly when I am sending traffic through affiliate links.

Sometimes technology breaks, and there isn’t anything an affiliate manager can do about that. But the way they react tells me whether they run a top flight affiliate program.

So it was refreshing to get emails from the Charming Shoppes Affiliate Team about some tracking issues yesterday.

They informed affiliates that they performed a system upgrade, which temporarily affected their ability to track return days.

And the Charming Shoppes Affiliate Team explained…

In our experience, about 34% of affiliate sales happen within 30 days of the customer’s initial referral and by visiting our site directly. In order to prevent any negative impact on your commission and to compensate you for any inconvenience, we will be making an adjustment to your May commissions.

The way they are making good is by looking at the click traffic for each affiliate in the 30 days prior to the issue, combined with the average conversion rate per affiliate, and then estimating the sales that should/could have gone to the affiliate.

Bravo to Stacy, Gina and Herschel over at Charming Shoppes.

I think they deserve kudos for being upfront about the problem and doing right by affiliates.

So to Stacy, Gina and Herschel – I’d like to offer each of you a free, full conference pass to Affiliate Summit 2008 East, taking place August 10-12 in Boston. Contact me and we’ll work it out.

You can apply to their Fashion Bug, Lane Bryant, Catherines and Petite Sophisticate affiliate programs on LinkShare.

Game Plan for New Affiliates

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Q: I am new to affiliate marketing. Is opening a store offering the best deals for brand names a good way to promote affiliate programs?

Shawn CollinsA: If you’re new to affiliate marketing, I don’t think you’ll have access to the best deals.

The deals that are better than those publicly available are typically made available only to affiliates that are generating lots of business already.

The thing you should focus on is a point of differentiation for your site.

What are you bringing to the table with your affiliate site? What is your value proposition? How are you different from everybody else that makes people want to come to your site initially and then return in the future?

Think about those questions. Don’t think about what the merchant can give you, but rather what you can give the consumer.

You need to have a valid reason for your site to be a part of the food chain.

If you’re not doing something different and better and unique than everybody else who is out there, your site is unnecessary.

Cory Booker at Google AdSense Conference

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Cory Booker, who will be the keynote speaker at Affiliate Summit 2008 East, recently gave a speech at a Google AdSense Conference.

Booker is the mayor of Newark, NJ, as well as having been the subject of an Academy Award nominated documentary, Rhodes Scholar, tight end at Standford University, and a graduate of the Yale University School of Law.

He is also an occasional blogger at The Huffington Post.

Register now for Affiliate Summit – less than a month to go before the Early Bird rate ends.

Multiple Affiliate Networks

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Q: Is it more beneficial to have one network or two for an affiliate program?

A: There are pros and cons to going with a second (or third or fourth) affiliate network.

It can certainly be an asset to have your affiliate program in more than one network, because while many affiliates join multiple networks – not all of them do so.

If you do have your offer in multiple networks, there can be some pitfalls, such as duplicate tracking.

Also, you have to be sure that you can adequately staff the needs that come with running on more than one affiliate network.

I’d say that you should try it, so long as you’ve tested the tracking and do not have any duplicate tracking issues, as well as enough resources to throw at the added duties.

Uncle Sam Wants Affiliates to Stimulate the Economy

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I got an email from the Dell affiliate program last night with the subject, “Dell Home New Affiliate Newsletter Tax Rebate Offers” and it got me thinking – can affiliates expect a surge in transactions as these checks start dropping?

Washington DC Capitol, USA

Direct deposits of the economic stimulus cash started on May 2. Checks started going out last week and will continue through July.

There isn’t really any way to measure whether this has an impact on your affiliate commissions, but I think it’s worth a shot to capitalize on it, and help the economy at the same time. 😉

Given the convergence of checks coming in and Father’s Day, it could be a good time to roll out creative for big ticket items like the Dell computers, smart phones, TVs, and other electronics.

How much money will consumers have to spend?

The actual amount depends on the information contained on your tax return. Eligible individuals will receive between $300 and $600. Those who are eligible and file a joint return will receive a total of between $600 and $1,200. Those with children will get an additional $300 for each qualifying child. To qualify, a child must be eligible under the Child Tax Credit and have a valid Social Security number. We have various examples for you check out.

Looking to stimulate the economy yourself? Check for your Stimulus Payment Status from the IRS.

Note that not everybody is getting the stimulus payments.

The stimulus payment – both the basic component and the additional funds for qualifying children – begins to phase out for individuals with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) over $75,000 and married couples who file a joint return with AGI over $150,000.

Sorry, super affiliates – no stimulus for you.

You Can’t Get Rich with a Blog

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There is a new podcast called Can’t Get Rich that I read about on the Wicked Fire forum.

The site for the show sets the stage, “I can’t get rich online and neither can you. Topics include why you won’t get rich with your blog, ideas you wish you had thought of, and other Internet phenomena.”

It’s an interesting look into the mindset of some of the teens and twenty-somethings that are into affiliate marketing. Guests on the first few shows include guys that talk about using black hat tactics without shame.

Geoff, a 22 year old college student who hosts the podcast, typically has a couple interviews during the show.

Some of the initial guests have been Nick of Nickycakes.com, Slightly Shady of SlightlyShadySEO.com, and Paul of Uberaffiliate.com.

Check out CantGetRich.com for the blog and to stream the show or subscribe to the RSS.

Making Money with Video

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https://youtu.be/zb8jrcQsyYk

Google product managers and marketers ran a workshop on video advertising and content monetization at the recent ad:tech in San Francisco.

The session covers the state of the video advertising market, a history of video ad serving, AdSense for video, and opportunities on YouTube.

Check out the GoogleBusiness channel on YouTube for more presentations and other content.

SocialSpark Blog Ad Marketplace Opens

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SocialSpark. a sort of blog advertising marketplace and social network hybrid from IZEA, is now open for all to join.

I created an account a couple or three weeks ago, but just went in today to actually do something with it.

The site, a sort of next generation Pay Per Post from Ted Murphy, enables bloggers and advertisers to hook up and do business.

I created an account as a blogger, as well as an advertiser, and I posted a blog sponsorship offer.

SocialSpark blog sponsorship offer

It looks like an interesting concept, and SocialSpark has a code of ethics for the community, which I presume will blunt the sort of criticism that was heaped on Pay Per Post in the past.

Get more details at http://socialspark.com/.

Affiliate Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

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Q: I am fairly new to affiliate marketing, but have been around the blog world for about a year. I am currently out of work with a back injury and my income is lower than normal. I am putting a lot of time into my online blogging life, and things are going great, but I want to get more into affiliate marketing and making money that way. But I don’t have a lot of cash to put into it, maybe $300 a month. What would be the best way to start earning money as an affiliate and re-investing 50% of the earnings as I go along?

Shawn CollinsA: You can certainly get started for little money, and since you have a blog presence, you’re already ahead of the game a bit, assuming you want to use the blog to generate your affiliate revenue.

Given your budget, I would recommend some limited testing in various places, like StumbleUpon, where you can get targeted clicks for $0.05 each.

Also, check out BlogAds, where you can make buys for time periods of one week, two weeks, one month or three months. Depending on the niche, you might be able to find some great bargains for targeted traffic.

Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing could work out for you, too, but keep a close eye on your budget, as it can easily get blown out quick.

I would also encourage you to invest your time in social media. Give a try at creating videos, participate in the comments on relevant blogs, and become active on Twitter to build more of a name for yourself in your area of concentration.

Over time, you’ll be getting an increased amount of inbound traffic from people that enjoy what you’re doing, and that organic traffic will be more valuable than paid traffic in the long term.

Embedding Affiliate Links into Videos

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Q: I was wondering if you know how to embed an affiliate link into a multimedia Flash movie presentation and offer the movie as a marketing tool for affiliates?

A: I am not familiar with the technical process of doing embedding affiliate links to a video, but I have worked with a vendor that can do it for you: WebVideoZone.

I would imagine there are other options, but WebVideoZone is a useful solution that is intended to work with affiliate programs.

They provide a custom video player, which you can brand, and the video is clickable.

WebVideoZone will provide a merchant with a page where affiliates can insert their own affiliate link and generate code for the video.

The player also has a clickable link and can be updated dynamically, so you never have to worry about affiliates running outdated videos.